Fourdrinier machines are commonly used for making paper and paperboard up to speeds of three-thousand (3,000) fpm. In such machines, a pulp slurry flows out of a headbox and through a narrow slot controlled by long, sharp-edged plate, commonly known as a slice. The pulp then falls onto a moving copper-wire screen as it is moved around a breast roll and is then carried along over a series of table rolls where some of the water content of the pulp is enabled to run out. The partially demoisturized pulp is then run over suction boxes where still more water is removed so that when the pulp reaches a couch roll the pulp contains approximately twenty percent (20%) fiber and eighty percent (80%) water.
The screen is shaken from side-to-side approximately two hundred (200) times per second as it moves along to thus cause the fibers to be laid in random fashion. When the pulp leaves the screen, it progresses into press rolls wherein it is carried by a woolen felt blanket to squeeze more water therefrom. The press rolls deliver the pulp, which is now formed into a raw paper, into the dryer section of the machine wherein it passes in and out between steam-heated rolls operating at surface temperatures in the range of from 150.degree.-275.degree. F., to reduce the moisture content of the raw paper to approximately 4-8% by weight.
The dryer rolls normally consist of a set of cast-iron cylinders which are driven simultaneously by a train of gears and heated internally by steam. A continuous web of dryer felt presses the paper against the rolls to absorb moisture therefrom. The leading end or tail of the raw paper is fed into the dryer section by a nip comprised of a draw roll which receives a rope carrier thereon, consisting of a pair of endless ropes carried within grooves defined on one end of the dryer rolls.
The rope carrier carries the narrow tail throughout the dryer section whereafter the width of the paper is increased to substantially cover the dryer rolls. The ropes of the rope carrier continuously function to carry the paper through the dryer section and any dislodgement of one or both of the ropes from any one or more of the dryer rolls, such as when there is a break in the paper, will require that the rope or ropes be replaced thereon.
In order to replace the dislodged rope on a respective one of the dryer rolls, the dryer section must be shut-down and three or four men are required to rewrap the rope on the drum. In addition to being time-consuming, conventional procedures for replacing the rope on the dryer roll subjects the workmen to injury, including burns occasioned by a workman's physical contact with the drum which remains heated.